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Author
Topic: AMG Grants Committee 07 (Read 4949 times)

The GRANTS COMMITTEE was born soon after the first AMG came to light as a means of pooling donations from generous members to help out some members who wanted to attend the AMG but were financially constrained. The original members of the Grants Committee were RAB, Killfoile, and Quarterhorse. Last year, the members were expanded to include 3 voting members (Joe, Trish and Jody) who were in charge of deciding how to distribute the funds to recipient members, and 2 non-voting members: Gerry (who kept the account and disbursed the funds per instructions of the voting members) and Rocky (who received and reported the financials: balances, deposits and withdrawals).

Aside from the main role of providing a mechanism for accepting and distributing donated funds for AMG, the responsibilities of and expectations from the Grants Committee have evolved into the following:1. Granting assistance to as many members in need wishing to attend the gathering as the available funds would allow.2. Maintaining anonymity of both donors and recipients. Some donors earmark their contributions to specific members and the committee makes sure that the instructions were carried out while still keeping anonymity.3. Providing transparency to the membership by reporting regularly how much money was received and how much was disbursed.4. Making sure that any money left over was rolled over to the next AMG or used in an alternative way determined by the donors.

Last year (2006), donors contributed about $2900 to the Grants Committee. Most were direct contributions from members and some were raised through fund-raising drives (candles, T-shirts). There were additional donations made directly by members to others (airfare, paid rooms, shared rooms). Close to a quarter of the attendees were assisted through these efforts – a truly remarkable display of commitment toward each other.

For AMG 07, the Grants Committee will consist of the following members: • Voting members (in charge of deciding which requesting member gets assistance and in what form): Cliff, David_NC, Jody• Non-voting members: Robert (in charge of receiving bank statements and reporting deposits/withdrawals/balances); Gerry (still in charge of keeping the account)

Any changes within the current Grants Committee will be announced publicly.

Grants Committee ‘07 started with $250.82 left over from 2006 donations. New donations and pledges have started to come in for AMG ’07 as early as after the AMG ’06 concluded.

Please send a private message to the Grants Committee for any pledges/donations or requests for assistance.

The Grants Committee is now accepting donations. Please feel free to PM us and we will reply with instructions on how to donate. Any amount will be helpful and greatly appreciated!

There were members in previous years who generously gave free airfare directly to other members outside of grants committee involvement. While the grants committee had usually been able to help with accommodations, if needed, in these situations, please note that in order to maximize the number of members receiving assistance from the grants committee this year, we will likely limit the accommodations assistance to a maximum of 4 nights shared room (room rate + applicable taxes, but NOT incidentals) from September 13 (Thursday) to September 16 (Sunday). It would help us tremendously if you coordinated the arrival and departure dates for the recipient of your gift of airfare to these dates (arriving no sooner than September 13, departing no later than September 17) should your recipient need assistance for accommodations from the grants committee.

Once again, thanks in advance for your generous contributions to this effort. Because we are not part of a charitable organization, the donations cannot be used as a tax write-off.

Just a quick note to mention that there are 3 possible ways to donate to the Grants Committee: mail a check, do an electronic transfer to the bank, or use paypal. For instructions, please send a PM to the Grants Committee. Any amount will help. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

We thank all of you who have donated for your continued support of the Grants Committee. The response this year has so far been nothing short of remarkable. We have been quite busy communicating with a number of folks who have requested assistance. We are on track to be able to assist more than we've had in the past AMGs with the donations we have received to date. This will be reflected in the next and subsequent bank statements as we start the process of distributing funds. As we have anticipated, there are more requests coming in for assistance as the gathering date nears in excess of the available donations. Thus, we are continuing to accept donations on behalf of those still needing assistance. We hope to be able to raise another $600. Any amount would help. We are set up to receive donations through checks, PayPal, and electronic bank transfers (Bank of America). We'd gladly provide the details through PM.

We have close to a month left before the AMG 07 in San Francisco takes off. We would like to thank all the generous donors who have made it possible for us at the Grants Committee to assist a record number of members to take part in this year's AMG. Our task is almost complete and we are happy to report that almost all the donated funds have been disbursed or earmarked to recipients. Monthly financial reports will continue through September. A final accounting will be done after the AMG 07 concludes. Once again, thank you for your generosity.